The Walker Chronicles: A Story of Death
by hgfirewall
Summary: Sophia has always thought of herself as the world's most average girl, but soon her life is going to be anything but average.


My name is Sophia Walker, and I'm about to be thirteen years old. Until a few months ago, I'd never really had a family. The day I was born I was put up for adoption. I've moved from foster home to foster home all my life. I've met the best and worst kinds of people, people who would stop everything and go on a road trip to see a kid smile and people who wouldn't even give a kid a light bulb.

I was with one of those light bulb people the night I ran away. Every foster kid has thought about running away, but there is no real point because we have nowhere to go. But on this night something magical happened like literally magical.

The view of the night's sky is the only redeeming factor of the little house located right in the middle of nowhere that my foster dad owned so I spent my nights staring at it. A shooting star burned across the sky, and on an impulse I made a wish.

"I wish I had a home," I whispered.

As soon as I finished my wish there was a blur of movement in the corner of my eye. I snapped my head towards it, it being a bush. It must have just been the wind in the bush's branches. I looked back up at the sky, but I couldn't get my mind off of the bush. It was like there was an alarm going off in the back of my head. I looked at the bush again and that's when I realized what was so wrong about that bush. It was new. That bush had never been there before.

My curiosity must have gotten the best of me because I was climbing out my window before I had even realized I'd unlocked it. As I neared the bush, my vision began to blur and my head started to hurt. Despite all that I could swear the bush was trembling.

"I must be going crazy. Bushes don't move," I said to myself.

"Actually I'm a shrub, and you're not going crazy," said a melodic voice.

Well if I wasn't sure I'd lost it before, I was certain I had when the bush stopped being a bush and became a girl just like me. Well not really like me, she was dressed like someone straight out of ancient history and her eyes were green and not green like a normal person's. The whites of her eyes were green.

"My name is Myrtle, and I'm sorry for this but you have to come with me, you're in danger!" the girl said.

"Yeah, I'm just going to go climb in my bed and hope this weird dream ends," I say turning back to my house.

"No! You don't understand you really are in danger. You have to come with me, before it wakes up," she says as she grabs my arm.

"And just what is 'it'?" I ask pulling away from her.

"It, is the thing pretending to be your… Oh no!" she exclaimed staring past me.

I turned around to see my foster dad, but looking at him now gave me the same feeling as when I was looking at Myrtle when she was a shrub.

"What are you doing out, Sophia? You know curfew is long past. And why are you talking to the weeds?" there was something about his voice that told me to run.

Myrtle moved in front of me as she said, "Sophia I need you to get to the tree line. You'll be safer there."

I hadn't planned on running until I saw my "dad" turn into something a little less than human. He became a skeleton covered in tight blue-black skin and his fingers became claws. His clothes hung from his body and seemed to have become made up of feathers. As I ran, I began to think in the back of my mind how he kind of reminded me of a vulture.

Myrtle was right beside me until a shadow fell upon us. I stopped and turned to see a zombie bird man in a titanic struggle to escape the bush that had just plucked him out of the air.

"Sophia, please get to the trees I'm not strong enough to hold him back!" Myrtle yelled.

I ran the final few yards to the woods. When I turned back to check on Myrtle, Vulture dude had just broken out of her grasp. He grabbed her stems and ripped her from the ground. As her roots left the ground, her form shimmered and she was a girl again. He held her above the ground by her neck and laughed as she struggled feebily.

"I've never met a dryad that would fight for something other than herself," he gloated, "you should have been like the others!" With that he slammed his talons into her chest and she exploded into a rain of petals

"Myrtle, no!" I screamed. The vulture man's head snapped towards me. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do but I planned on knocking his head off. Luckily I was ensnared by forest undergrowth as girls emerged from the trees around me. They seemed to be looking at a woman for further orders.

"Don't be stupid demigod, he will kill you," said the woman before she began to address the bird man, "Eurynomos, you may have killed my cousin but you cannot hope to win against us. You will have to find yourself a new meal to scavenge."

"Sophia, you will not always have an entire forest to protect you. If our paths ever cross again, I will make a meal of you," Eurynomos threatened before he flew off into the night.

The dryads released their grip on me and returned to the trees as the woman turned back to me.

"Myrtle was always so adventurous. I knew that meeting those heroes would be bad for her," she said as a green tear rolled down her cheek.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was a monster," I said.

"It is not your fault child. She wanted to help you and she knew the risks. She got too close she was only meant to keep watch on you until the heroes came for you tomorrow."

"What do you mean heroes are there real life super heroes and did you call me a demigod earlier?" I asked.

"Yes, I did call you a demigod. You've already seen that there are mythical beings so I might as well explain. The gods of ancient Greece are real and every myth and legend you've ever heard is probably a true story. Demigods are the children that the gods' have with humans. And when I say hero I mean a demigod who has been trained to fight monsters not caped crusaders," she answered.

"Oh," I stammered, "You must be mistaken even if these gods do exist I can't be related to one. There's nothing special about me all I've ever been is average."

"It's true that you don't really smell very demigod-like even after learning your legacy, but there is something there so I'm not surprised Eurynomos couldn't smell you when you knew nothing, but I'm sure he had his suspicions or he would not have fostered you," she said.

"Are you a dryad?" I ask.

"Of course, what else would I be?" She laughed.

"Why are the other dryads so much younger?" I asked.

"Oh child, I hope to be there the first time you speak to a god. I am one of the original dryads that were born from Gaea. My sisters and I inhabit the world's ash trees. We like to be called Meli but our name is Meliai." She answered.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, Meli. I didn't mean you looked old I just thought it strange for the other dryads to be young girls while you were a grown woman." I apologized

"You did not offend me, Sophia. I understand that I am different from my cousins, but some gods are not as understanding as I am," She said.

"Did you say you and your sisters all have the same name?" I questioned.

"Yes, we do share the same name," she replied, "And yes it can be confusing when more than two of us are in a conversation. It also doesn't help that we are all identical. Poor Zeus would get so confused when he was little," a rumble of thunder interrupted her and she turned her head to the sky," Oh hush, it was cute!"

"So you were serious when you said the Greek gods are real?" I asked surprised.

"Of course I was. Everything that has happened tonight is real, Sophia. In a couple of hours, some heroes will arrive and take you to Camp Half Blood and there you will receive training to become a hero. So I suggest you try to get a little rest," as she said this she waved her hand towards a tree. The tree bowed to the ground and molded its branches into a bed.

As I climbed onto the tree, exhaustion overcame me.


End file.
